Civic engagement in Knoxville on April 24 wasn’t boring or tedious. It was exciting and unusual – as if one went to a chess tournament and chess boxing broke out. Many area church congregations and non-profit groups came together under the banner of Justice Knox.

The group had done research and strategic planning – and it showed to the capacity crowd filling the pews of Central United Methodist Church. Justice Knox, motivated by moral imperatives of justice and compassion, narrowed its focus to two specific changes.

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — 26,000. That’s the number of suspensions given out just last year alone in the Columbus Public School District, according to the Ohio Department of Education. Monday night thousands met in Columbus to demand an end to what they call the school-to-prison pipeline.

Of the 26,000 suspensions, we don’t know how many are from the same student. Still, it’s a shocking number. The B.R.E.A.D. Organization said it’s too many and that students who get suspended are more likely to fail, drop out and end up in prison.

More than 2,000 people will flow into the Celeste Center at the Ohio State Fairgrounds on Monday evening for BREAD’s annual Nehemiah Action event. Afterward, Cathy Levine hopes they leave feeling the power they have to accomplish “wonderful things” in the community.

Levine, a committee chairwoman with the interfaith group BREAD — Building Responsibility, Equality And Dignity — and other group officials are hosting the event at 7 p.m. Monday.

“Justice!” bellowed Pastor Chris Battle from the front of Central United Methodist Church on Monday night.

“Knocks!” thundered back the 1,000 or so people in the pews, members of about 16 congregations across the city. They repeated the chant three times, then thundered their feet against the floor like the hand of God knocking.

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